Mikhail said: "As far as the Buchanan/Gore votes,
what has been thrown around in class is that
apparently, since the 1996 election, the number of registered
Independent (read "potentially Buchanan") voters throughout
Florida has increased tremendously. Thus, it's actually
*not* inconceivable that the Buchanan votes are
actually "real"."
While I believe that the number
of independent voters, or even Buchanan supporters
may have increased throughout Florida, I find it hard
to believe that it would have happened in this
specific area. Both sets of my grandparents own residences
in the county, and I have spent some time there. It
is a fairly Jewish area (as well as a rather large
African American population from what I have seen). In my
life I have met one Jew who would even consider voting
for Buchanan. I find it hard to believe that he could
have gotten anywhere near that amount of votes in that
particular area.